A Shinigami In the Flock
by Bittersweet Alchemist
Summary: The School brought B back from the dead. He's ordered to help the Erasers find the flock and bring them back. But then he decides to join them in their mission to go to Japan and help L hunt down Kira. But while he withhold important information from L just to be spiteful? Or will he actually prove to be the MVP of the task-force and the flock? Slight BxMax, NudgexMatt
1. Prologue

_Voices._

that wasn't right. He should've been dead. So why were there voices?

Cautiously, he extended his other senses, not opening his eyes.

He was lying face-down on a flat, cold hard surface in a chilly room. The air reeked of antiseptics. There were at least ten people in there, milling around and talking.

That all built up the image of a hospital.

Why would he be in a hospital?

There... There was something else as well...

Feathers. On his back. A carefully arranged mass of feathers.

_Wings?_

He took a deep and pushed himself up into a sitting position, opening his eyes.

"He's awake!"

The scars... The burns...

Looking at his hands...

_They were all gone!_

All the marks from his attempted suicide... were gone!

Now he let his gaze roam over the people there.

Far more than ten. A group of ten young men were lined up against the wall. All of them were due to die in seven years or less. The rest that were milling around all wore long white lab-coats. They were smiling, talking, nodding. A few gestured at him with a frenzied sort of happy energy.

He suppressed a shiver and twisted his head to investigate the feathers on his back.

It was wings.

Large. Bright red. Wings.

He extended one of them. This one alone was easily ten feet... A twenty-foot wingspan?... Bright red feathers carefully followed delicate curves and angles...

_But why...?_

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Beyond."

One of the white-coated people...

_Jeb Batchelder... So that's your name...?_

He accepted the bundle of clothes Jeb held out to him, casting about again. "Where am I?" he asked, eyeing the young men. They were all in their early twenties at an estimate...

"This place..."

He turned his attention back to Jeb.

"... is called the School."


	2. Stranger

**Beyond**

Ari Batchelder...

That Eraser had been withheld from the mission.

_Find the flock. Bring them back. It doesn't matter if you lose one or two, but their leader is essential. We must have her._

Why the hell was it so important to have them if they could simply do things like make more? They had to be... flukes. Special cases that they couldn't reproduce. That was the only logical explanation, he thought as he licked at his fingers.

They were close. The 'flock' was in New York. Heading for Japan.

Probably to help L.

His lip curled at the thought of that name.

"What's wrong?" frowned the Eraser at the head of the pack.

"Nothing. Why was Ari held back?"

"Dunno. They don't tell us that."

"Ahh..."

_They treat everything they make so badly... like it's far inferior to everything else on the planet._

_What's their game?_

"We'll start flying again in half an hour." the alpha told him.

"Why so long? Time is money, and therefore life." he said softly, standing up. The Eraser grunted, nodding. Turning around, he barked orders to the rest of the pack.

This flock was just a group of children. He looked over the pictures again.

_Maximum Ride. Fang. Iggy. Nudge. Gasman. Angel._

Such odd names... Then again, his name wasn't exactly number five on the most common name in America. They'd probably chosen their names themselves. And as children...

Quarter Queen popped into his head before he could stop it. From there, his thoughts went to Naomi Misora. She'd been engaged when he'd last seen her, recalling the ring on her finger. Had she actually gotten married yet? Or was work keeping her from getting that far? Who was she engaged to? How was she?

No, he had to stay focused. The pack of Erasers was spreading their wings, and he hurried to do the same. Three of them snarled at him as he knocked them off-balance, but he ignored them, jumping into the air.

No matter how many times he took off, he'd never get over the sheer thrill of flying. It'd been the human dream to fly since the beginning of time... And now he could.

_L would kill for this... Or the fact that they can bring the dead back... Damn, he'd kill for this._

The thought of L being driven to insanity by something like this made him smile as the wind whipped through his hair and tore at his face and clothes.

Did the 'flock' feel this thrill when they flew? did they ever just fly for the sheer fun of it, performing neat tricks in the air, carefully executing twists and dives? He knew that if he was allowed to, he would.

Why were they even being hunted down? Couldn't they be replicated?

"What's wrong?" the alpha asked again.

"Why do they want them back so badly if they could potentially make more?" he asked, his voice just barely loud enough to be heard.

"They're special. They develop as time goes on."

Develop?

So these kids were potentially super-human, and they couldn't risk just terminating them.

That was understandable.

_Yes, L would go crazy for this._

**Max**

_Where the hell did they all come from?! How did they find us?! We don't even look like us right now!_

The Erasers swarmed through the plaza, ready to tear us to pieces. I swung the piece of pipe I held at the nearest one, hitting his skull with a crunch.

_Something here... is wrong..._

There.

That guy there was just standing there, holding a length of pipe the same way I did. He wasn't an Eraser... I think. But he watched us all coolly, not at all perturbed by the fight going on before him.

Fang resurfaced from under a heap of Erasers near him. The guy's eyes narrowed. "_FANG_!" I bellowed, starting towards the two.

My yell distracted Fang, though, and now the guy carefully swung. Fang's eyes widened for a second before he crumpled, falling back into the stranger's arms.

"_FANG!_" I screamed again, abandoning my weapon and running towards them.

But before I could even think of how best to attack, the guy turned to face me. Now I could see him full on.

Long-sleeved white tee. Jeans. Sneakers shoved onto his feet in a hurry. Pale skin. Dark eyes framed by shadows that could've been drawn on in marker they were so thick. Messy black hair.

_For a second, I thought his eyes were red..._

Then something hit me hard from behind, and everything went black.


	3. Caged and Confused

**Max**

When I came to, I was in a cage.

Grr...

I looked around. Blackness above and to the left. Nudge was to my right, and just beyond her I could see Iggy. Forward was...

Animals in cages?

_A zoo...?!_

"WHY?!"

I jumped at the furious roar, and Nudge whimpered.

"Because we're not yet ready."

"But-"

"Terry, remember I am in charge of the mission. If I say we wait, we wait. If I say go, we go."

I could see who was talking now. Two Erasers and the weird guy who hit Fang. I growled a little.

"Ah, so you decided to join us, Miss Ride?" he asked, noticing my eyes on him.

"Well, I couldn't resist the invitation to such a _party_!" I drawled, rolling my eyes. "Really, I love what you've done here; Who is your decorator?"

Nudge made a face at me, and the guy smiled a little. "Just as well; You may be staying here for quite a while."

"Honestly, where is here?" I asked.

"An animal warehouse. The owner was very generous to let us stay here."

Uh-huh, sure he was. When you killed him.

"And, gee, I'm sorry, didn't catch your name."

He paused, looking at me with big blank eyes that made me want to squirm.

"You can call me Rue Ryuzaki." he said softly.

"So, _Ryuzaki_, why aren't we leaving yet?" one of the Erasers sneered, placing extreme emphasis on the guy's name.

"We don't have them all yet."

I pressed myself to the side of my cage, squinting past Nudge... There was Ig... Angel... Fang and Gazzy...?

"What're you talking about?!" the Eraser and I both yelled.

Ryuzaki came to stand right in front of me, making me guess we were tucked under a table. "You told me they continue to evolve as time goes on. Does that include Total?" Without giving the Erasers time to respond, he turned and said, "I'd like a complete list of Total's abilities, followed by the talents of the flock, please."

The Erasers stood there dumbly as Ryuzaki jumped up onto the table, his feet pretty much dangling in my face.

"Exactly. If Total is included in the evolution process, he could prove a dangerous loose cannon. I want him found before we go anywhere, alright?"

"Yes, sir." they nodded.

"Good." Ryuzaki paused, and I could easily picture his biting his lip in the thoughtful silence that followed. "Angel's wing... Did you tend to that yet? I don't want that getting infected."

"Uhmm..."

"Idiots." Ryuzaki muttered, jumping back down and making a dismissive gesture. Walking over to Angel's cage, he crouched down and began to speak softly... Opening her cage, reaching in and pulling her out...

_Hit him, hit him, hit him-_

_Holy crap!_

Her wing was covered in blood! And several feathers fell off as I watched! What had happened?!

Ryuzaki was gently cleaning the blood off of her, disinfecting the wound... Why was he so careful with us?!

"Hey! If you're working for the School, why're you being such an angel?!" Gazzy challenged.

"Because... I used to be a bit like you..." he muttered, putting a gauze patch over the nasty scrape on Angel's wing. "There's not a lot more I can do now, so just try not to play with it, alright?"

Scared, Angel nodded, practically scurrying back to her dog-crate.

That done, he stood up and walked away.

"'A bit like you,' my foot!" I muttered.

"He's worried about Total? That tiny furball?" Iggy asked in disbelief.

"Apparently so..." I said, thinking about what he said. He helped the Erasers capture us. He beat Fang over the head, possibly endangering his life... But I still wanted to know how they found us!

I reached up and pulled at a clump of my bangs. They were trimmed, dyed bright purple. It looked really cool, and not Max. Nudge looked like a 'Harajuku punk,' whatever that was. Fang looked Goth. Angel and Gazzy looked like, well, angels. Iggy looked like some sort of celebrity.

So how...?


End file.
